“It’s been a whirlwind!” says Vanessa Williams Brooks, reflecting on her work helping Miami host FIFA World Cup 2026™. As Director of the Volunteer Program for the Miami Host Committee, CSUDH alumna Williams Brooks helped recruit, interview, and prepare the volunteer workforce supporting tournament operations in Miami. Later, she led over 2,000 Host City Ambassadors during the World Cup.
In just eight months on the job, Williams Brooks worked alongside FIFA and the Miami Host Committee team on the recruitment and selection process. Together, FIFA and the Host Committee interviewed more than 10,000 prospective volunteers through in-person tryout conversations, individual virtual interviews, and group virtual sessions, including candidates from outside Florida and the United States. Approximately 4,000 volunteers were ultimately recruited for roles supporting FIFA World Cup 2026™ operations in Miami.
“The first several weeks of the program were spent conducting interviews at the Volunteer Center in Miami,” says Williams Brooks. “Every half hour, we had another group of thirty come in for one-on-one conversations.” The team also conducted virtual interviews to accommodate candidates who could not participate in person.
Once the volunteers were selected, Williams Brooks’ focus shifted to preparing the Host City Ambassador workforce for tournament operations, including their training, scheduling, deployment, and ongoing operational support. Ultimately, approximately 2,200 Host City Ambassadors were deployed during the World Cup in Miami.
Host City Ambassadors served on the front lines of the visitor experience, helping welcome visitors and connect them with Miami throughout the tournament. Williams Brooks, a global tourism strategist, made destination training an intentional part of their preparation.
“I made it a point to train our Host City Ambassadors as tourism ambassadors for the destination,” says Williams Brooks. “We wanted them to understand the economic impact of Miami’s tourism industry, our culture, and what it means to represent the destination to visitors from around the world.”
Once the tournament got underway, Host City Ambassadors supported the FIFA Fan Festival™ at Bayfront Park, the Volunteer Center, and transportation and mobility hubs throughout Miami-Dade County.
The FIFA Fan Festival™ represented the program’s largest and most complex deployment. During the 23-day activation, Host City Ambassadors supported visitor information, guest wayfinding, transportation assistance, accessibility services, entertainment areas, Host City activations, FIFA supporter experiences, and venue operations. The volunteers, who Williams Brooks affectionately referred to as her “Green Army” because of their distinctive FIFA Volunteer uniforms, collectively completed more than 6,200 shifts during tournament operations.
For Williams Brooks, the work also tied into a larger goal: ensuring that Miami’s investment in its volunteer workforce could create value beyond the tournament itself.
“A destination shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel for every new event,” she says. “We now have an experienced group of volunteers who have been recruited, trained, and deployed in a global-event environment. If we can keep them engaged, that becomes an asset for Miami and for future major events.”
Williams Brooks earned an MBA in International Business from CSUDH after attaining a bachelor’s degree in French Language, Literature, and Civilization from New York University and a master’s degree in Political Science, with concentrations in International Relations and Comparative Politics, from Columbia University.
Williams Brooks’ career has spanned tourism, government, cultural affairs, real estate and international strategy. She also serves as Chief Strategy Officer for AfriKin, a Miami-based cultural organization focused on building cultural infrastructure and connecting global Africa with South Florida through culture, commerce, and community.
Looking back at the experience, Williams Brooks admits, “I’m still taking it in and putting the pieces together. When you’re in the middle of delivering an event at this scale, you’re focused on the work in front of you, and there isn’t much time to reflect on the full magnitude of it. I’m really proud of what we accomplished here, and I hope that the legacy of the World Cup continues long after the last match was played.”
